Friis was team captain of the AaB reserve team playing in the fourth tier Denmark Series before retiring due to injury in 2002–03.[3] Beside AaB, he also played for two years for Aalborg Chang (1999–2001).[4]
Managerial career
Beginnings
Friis started his career as a coach in connection with a job as an assistant coach for AaB's seventh-tier Series 3 team.[5] He then continued as an assistant coach for AaB's reserves, playing in the fourth-tier Denmark Series, where he remained until the summer of 2006.[3]
In the summer of 2006, Friis travelled to Mexico, where he was to teach English at Instituto CEFI and coach their football team.[3] However, the job as a football coach was not satisfactory for Friis,[3] and instead an opportunity arose for Friis to be part of the coaching staff around Monterrey's university team, Tigres UANL.[3]
AaB
When Allan Kuhn resigned as a result of a finding a new coaching job at Malmö FF, Friis became the new assistant coach at AaB in January 2016 under head coach Lars Søndergaard. He had already been promised a promotion to the assistant coaching position from the summer of 2016, but these plans were advanced with the premature change of head coach.[6]
Søndergaard was dismissed in December 2016.[7]Morten Wieghorst signed with AaB as their new head coach in early-January 2017,[8] and Friis was appointed his main assistant with Thomas Augustinussen as second assistant.[9] He signed an ongoing contract extension at the end of March 2018.[9]
In the fall of 2018, AaB won just one match out of 12 possible,[10] and Wieghorst was subsequently fired on 26 November 2018.[10][11][12] As his interim, Friis was appointed head coach for the three remaining matches in the Danish Superliga during the fall.[13] Friis' first match in charge resulted in a 4–1 win over Esbjerg fB on 1 December 2018.[14] Despite AaB losing the next match 4–2 at home to AC Horsens on 9 December,[15] Friis was still signed on a permanent deal for the remained of the 2018–19 season.[15]
Friis stepped back from the position as head coach of AaB on 29 October 2020, for personal reasons related to his daughter fighting leukaemia.[16] Assistant Peter Feher took over as caretaker manager with Rasmus Würtz continuing as assistant.[16]
In August 2015, Friis acquired the UEFA Pro Licence, also known as the 'P licence'; the highest coaching education. His final assignment was entitled Afslutningspil fra mellemrum - Mod etableret forsvar (Finishing from the red zone - against established defense).[1]
Personal life
Friis was born in Aalborg, Denmark, and grew up in Aalborg Øst where he attended Mellervangsskolen.[2] While managing AaB he lived in Vodskov northeast of Aalborg with his wife, Merle, and three children.[2][19]
